Trinity Murphy: Messy House Killed Baby?

Did a messy house kill baby Trinity Murphy? A judge will soon decide if poor housekeeping habits by parents allowed the baby to swallow a lethal dose of morphine pills. The infant’s grandmother was taking the medication as part of her cancer treatment. Detroit prosecutors are blaming the baby’s death on the “pigsty” of a home she lived in.

Trinity Murphy’s parents are not to blame for the messy house and her death, and the Detroit prosecutor is just attempting to punish them for being poor, according to the defense attorney representing Harold and Kimberly Murphy. The parents are accused of committing a “reckless act” which led to the death of their 11-month-old daughter. The child abuse charges indicate that the grandmother who was taking the morphine also resided in the same suburban Detroit home, the Daily Beast reports.

In October 2013, Trinity Murphy ate some of the morphine pills which had been prescribed to her grandmother. The pills are believed to have been dropped onto the floor of the Sterling Heights, Michigan home several weeks prior. Kimberly Murphy reportedly supplied the information about the medication being on the floor for an extended period to police investigators after the baby became ill.

If the Detroit judge decides not to dismiss the case, and Harold and Kimberly Murphy are convicted, they could be sentenced to spend a decade in prison. Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor Yasmine Poles testified in court earlier this week. Poles called the Sterling Heights home a “pigsty” and maintained that the reckless acts of the parents caused the baby’s death, according to the Macomb Daily.

“It’s a reckless act because their child is dead. They were supposed to make sure the child was not given access to the room where the grandmother died in,” Poles added.

The defense attorneys for the Murphy family claim that it is unclear how Trinity garnered access to the morphine pills. No loose pills were reportedly found at the scene, and the medication bottle was found inside the grandmother’s closet on a shelf. According to court documents, no one saw the 11-month-old baby ingest the morphine.

William Ford, Harold Murphy’s attorney, maintains that no evidence has been presented that the condition of the home played a role in the death of Trinity. Being poor is the only crime the parents committed, the lawyer claims.

“We don’t know how the baby got the medicine. If we don’t know how the baby got the medicine, how can we say the condition of the house had anything to do with it?” Nobody wants a child to die. Nobody wants to see a child hurt. But don’t use the law as a sword when it’s not appropriate. This case is going forward because … they’re looking for someone to blame. These parents have been through enough.”